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Comment: Ex-Library Book - will contain Library Markings. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas.

A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future from the New York Times bestselling author of Neuromancer.

A corporate mercenary wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him, for a mission more dangerous than the one he’s recovering from: to get a defecting chief of R&D—and the biochip he’s perfected—out intact. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties—some of whom aren’t remotely human...

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Turner, corporate mercenary, wakes in a reconstructed body, a beautiful woman by his side. Then Hosaka Corporation reactivates him for a mission more dangerous than the one he's recovering from: Maas-Neotek's chief of R&D is defecting. Turner is the one assigned to get him out intact, along with the biochip he's perfected. But this proves to be of supreme interest to certain other parties--some of whom aren't remotely human.

Bobby Newmark is entirely human: a rustbelt data-hustler totally unprepared for what comes his way when the defection triggers war in cyberspace. With voodoo on the Net and a price on his head, Newmark thinks he's only trying to get out alive. A stylish, streetsmart, frighteningly probable parable of the future and sequel to Neuromancer
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Gibson's first novel, Neuromancer, was greeted with hosannas and showered with awards. This second book, set in the same universe, again offers a faddish, glitzy surface not unlike that of Miami Vice. Gibson's central image is the shadow boxes constructed by the artist Joseph Cornell, collections of seemingly unrelated objects whose juxtaposition creates a new impression. In the same fashion, the novel has three protagonists, each of whom is putting together jigsaw clues in pursuit of his separate goal. The corporate headhunter, the art dealer and the computer hacker all find themselves being manipulatedjust as the author contrives to have their paths converge. This book is less appealing and less verbally skillful than Gibson's first novel, dense and dour as that was, but readers who liked that one will want to see this as well. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Top customer reviews

Gibson is up there with Asimov, Dick, Clarke, and Herbert. His projections into the future are disturbingly accurate for being written in the 80s. His frenetic writing style also matches the adrenaline that's pumped into the plot of this book. If you're a sci-fi cyberpunk fan with a tilt towards multiverses, biotechnology, multi-threaded plots and the ilk, then this is the book for you.

This is the second of the Sprawl trilogy with Neuromancer preceding Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive coming after. You don't have to read Neuromancer first, but it definitely helps set the stage for the type of world that Gibson immerses you in. Very much looking forward to reading Mona Lisa Overdrive next.

William Gibson's "Neuromancer" introduced us to the rather dystopian world of his cyberpunk genre; "Count Zero' expands the world a bit. It tends to get a bit metaphysical, even more than "Neuromancer," and expands the theme of the "otherworld" of cyberspace being like the spirit world of mythology and religion ("Neuromancer' treats the theme of AIs - artificial intelligences - as being like demons from folklore who can be summoned and bargained with, responding to identification codes like True Names. "Count Zero" expands the comparison to the "loa" of Voudon). Definitely worth reading . . .

I'm not the person to ask to rate this book because I REALLY enjoy Gibson's writing and story-telling, and have read almost all of his books countless times. His are the books I return too when literarily burnt out and lost. He's just good beyond measure. And although Count Zero isn't exactly the artistic knock-out which Neuromancer was, is and I believe always will be, for me at least, Count Zero is good, powerful, effective and hypnotic. And, again speaking only for myself, it is streets, miles, leagues, light-years ahead of Gibson's most recent title, The Peripheral, the only one of his books which didn't do it for me. Which is not to say it's not good. Jason Sheehan's review of The Peripheral for NPR is appropriate and, I would venture, valid, but, I could not hear The Peripheral "[tick] and [sing] with the same controlled, dark energy and effortless grace of language" Sheehan ascribes to Gibson's writing in general including Count Zero, in which the Count and his coevals give one a good run for your money and your mind.

I'm intermingling my reading of the books in William Gibson's first two series ("The Sprawl" and "The Bridge"). This book, "Count Zero," is the second book in his first (the Sprawl) trilogy. Since I'm reading the books in an odd order, I'm noticing how I prefer Gibson's earlier work to the later. So far, even though the writing is very similar in both series, the older (Sprawl) books remain on target much better than the books in the later series (i.e., here, Gibson doesn't get side-tracked describing his vision at the expense of the story). "Count Zero," like the others, is well-written and very interesting. It continues from the basis of the concluding events in "Neuromancer." But, that continuation is more of an addition to a framework instead of the continuation of a story. In other words, the books can be read independently. The only issues I have with the book are with the namesake title character, Count Zero. First, he's a pretty flawed character. But, more to the point, Gibson has some trouble keeping his speech in line with his education and background. Usually, his speech and understanding are less than stellar. But occasionally, he'll start describing things as though he were an expert (for example, his description of a phone interface in "Jammers" near the end). Those aren't big issues. So, I'm happy to rate the book at a solid Very Good 4 stars out of 5.

This is a brilliant novel! I couldn't put it down and i finished it in a week. Cyber punk sci fi fans need to get this novel along with Neuromancer and Mona Lisa Overdrive to complete this wonderfully bizarre Sprawl trilogy. The film the Matrix triology was supposed to an adaptation of these novels, but those movies lack the complexity, the strangeness, and the bizarre atmosphere of this novel Count Zero within its compendium. If a movie was made about these books the way that Mr. Gibson wrote them people's minds would be blown. These novels are written in a beautiful poetic type of writing, which is unique to science fiction just as the stories are. Gibson writes science fiction like Shakespeare writes a sonnet. You'll enjoy this novel if you value well written fiction, but if you like light and straight forward stories this book is not for you.

This book is absolutely genius. For those who enjoyed Neuromancer, I found Count Zero to be a perfect follow-up, equal in quality. That said, do not expect Neuromancer part 2; while it takes place in the same world, this story touches on the lives of very different characters. You could read them out of order and be none the wiser. As usual, Gibson creates characters who genuinely feel like real people. Marly is the best example of this; she dwells on her past mistakes, she has loyal friends and disloyal lovers, she questions her own good luck.Be warned: you will spend no time following a netrunner through cyberspace. Instead, you will follow a suave mercenary in a high-stakes chase, you will follow Jersey punk through the Sprawl underworld, and an art-dealer into Orbit on a quest to solve a mystery. Yes, awesome. Loved every minute. Read it now.